Leiden University Student Repository

Blabol, Jáchym (2025)

The Indo-European Contrastive Suffix *-téro- in Nouns and Beyond

Master thesis | Linguistics (MA)

The suffix *-téro- functions synchronically as a comparative suffix in the Indo-Iranian languages and Greek. It not only attaches to adjectives, but also nouns, adverbs, pronouns and particles in other IE language branches, where a great semantic variability can be seen. The present thesis sets out to investigate these different semantic uses of the suffix with the goal of finding the original function of the suffix in PIE. Data for the research are gathered from Vedic, Young Avestan and Ancient Greek. On basis of this dataset it is argued that the suffix *-téro- originated as a marker of definite reference in PIE. Supporting evidence is taken from the proposed etymology of the suffix which goes back to a locative formant *-er-, and from typology and grammaticalization paths of definite reference markers in other languages.

Proto-Indo-European

Comparative

Gradation

Morphology

Vedic

Ancient Greek

Author

Blabol, Jáchym

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Comparative Indo-European Linguistics

Supervisors

Kloekhorst, A.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en